Figure 1 Umaragada: The village is now right at the edge of the Gori river, the 14 families have abandoned their homes and are now living makeshift shelters just a bit further away from the collapsing river banks

Overview

Subsequent to the floods that affected Uttarakhand in June 2013 a team comprising people from Maati Sangathan, Civil Society representatives, and members and volunteers of Himal Prakriti under took a relief distribution and survey visit to the lower third of the Gori Valley. Below is a detailed account of the visit along with information on the crucial issues that face the affected communities as well as those confronting relief agencies undertaking the relief work. The food supply relief run, was coordinated for delivery at the nearest reliable road head, Toli, 7 kilometers upstream from Jauljibi, Along with the relief supply a walk through survey of some parts of the valley and detailed surveys of some affected villages was undertaken.

A list of people involved in the Relief supply effort as well as the subsequent survey is provided inthe this annexure on page 1↓.

The list of villages which received relief supplies are described below with the distances from the nearest road access is in this on page 1↓

Relief Distribution

In the days prior to the distribution of relief supplies a committee consisting of elected representatives and responsible citizens was formed and information was collected from the affected villages. The committee helped to select who the most needy were . Based on this information only the families receiving the rations arrived at the delivery location.

The CDO [E] [E] Chief Development Officer Munsiari, in charge of relief operations in the areas was approached for permission for the relief supply run. Information was provided about the village wise number of families been supplied and the rations being provided. This was subsequent to recent orders by the District Magistrate to coordinate relief supply. At the relief site Government officials (the Block Relief Officer and the Police) who arrived at the spot were informed of the process.

Figure 2 Organizing and distribution of rations at Toli

The distribution was organized village wise, with the furtherest village getting the rations first so that they could start their long walk back as soon as possible. In less than 2 hours about 110 families were provided with dry rations and plastic rain protection for relief material. Each family received a total of 40 kilograms (kgs.) of dry rations packaged into packs of 20 kilograms (kgs.) of rice , 10 kgs. of atta (wheat flour) , 5 kgs of daal (lentils) and 5 kgs of sugar.

For various reasons about 23 families were unable to come on the 13th. Their rations were stored in a home in Toli and on the 14th these families came and collected their rations under the supervision of a member of Himal Prakriti.

The relief operation were organized by Himal Prakriti, Maati Sangathan, elected members of Gram Sabha, Van Panchayat and Block Panchayat from the focus region and some civil society representatives and volunteers.

Observations

Loss of agricultural lands and impact on homestead animals

In many villages and hamlets located along the Gori River there has been loss of agricultural land and in some places this has been substantial. In some villages like Talla Mori (figures 4 on page 1↓ and 5) , Umaragada, Malla Gharudi, Mankot (picture on page 1↓) , Khinwagaon there is significant loss while other villages alongside rivers have suffered minor losses to their agricultural lands. The information provided below is based on the walk through the valley and in some cases is based in visits to the village / hamlets .

Overall it is estimated that animal loss has not been significant. In villages where homes have been lost or have been abandoned, domestic animals have had to be left out to fend for themselves. In some cases the animals are brought close to the make shift shelters every evening (or even put back into the abandoned homes) and in other cases they have been put out into the nearby forest commons. In Umargada some goats, left out in the forest to fend for themselves have been predated upon, possibly by leopards. Some animals were lost due to sickness and in one case (Mankot) a heavily pregnant buffalo could not cope with being moved on a rainy dark night .

This list on page 1↓ has details of the village where agricultural land has been impacted

Figure 3 Mankot Village - the floods have washed away significant sections of agricultural land. Here land with standing rice crop has been destroyed and also the river edge is now fairly close to the home on the right

Figure 4 A widescape image of Mori (left) and Gharudi (right) . The Gori river at this point now has a span of more than 300 meters, the floods caused significant land loss in Mori

Villages where people have left their homes

Only in villages where homes have been washed away or abandoned (Ghatabagad, Mori, and Choribagad ) have tents been provided as part of relief. In very few cases are the tents of good quality canvas material, while in most cases the tents are just plastic sheets or tarpaulins, as in Umargada. In Mankot, Gharudi and Dawani families have had to use their own material to rig up shelters.

Figure 5 Mori (Talla) Village, the village was once 200 meters away from the Gori river, not only have they suffered immense land loss but the village is now right on the edge of the river

Figure 5 A Google earth image, from 2004, showing Talla Mori village, to the center right, located at a safe distance of over 200 meters from the Gori river. Here not only has the river changed course but has created a new flood plain on the left (the true right bank).

Loss to Commons

Some details of loss of Commons and civic facilities is provided below. This is not comprehensive and is only for villages where information was provided or was directly observed

Drinking Water – In a few villages the drinking water lines have been damaged or entirely washed away. At the present moment there are rain fed stream runoffs which are being used for drinking water supply. However post monsoons the lack of drinking water would be an issue.

Van Panchayats (Village Forest Council) – In villages where homes have been abandoned or have been washed away and in villages where common paths have been affected there has been some impact on village forests. Shelter-less animals have been put out into Van Panchayats affecting their annual grass production. Shilling Van Panchayat which normally auction their grass plots in end September are doing so immediately in order to earn some revenue.

Watermills – In the valley there is only one watermill that is located on banks of the Gori river, this at Gharudi. The floods have swept this watermill away. However with lack of diesel fuel to run the mechanized flour mills, communities have had to resort either to hand turned mills or to quickly remake a watermill, as they have done in Gharudi (picture on page 1↓). Some other villages located along other streams continue to have access to functional watermills.

Some details of losses to commons and civic facilities can be seen in this table on page 1↓

Figure 6 The reconstructed watermill in Gharudi / Talla Mankot

Loss of access paths

Traditional paths connecting villages along the river has been replaced by the main motor road. Disuse and disrepair has meant that many sections of these paths are unusable. However with the motor road itself now being dangerously unusable, these old paths, especially those that followed a high line above the river have started being used again, are dicey, not easy to navigate and are being used in desperation. Some villages are proposing to use MNREGA [F] [F] programs under - Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act resources to repair these paths.

The image on page 1↓ is section of the route from Bungapani to Mankot. In a few places one is required to descend to the river bed and wade in the Gori river. The unpredictability in the flow of the river and the many landslides on route make river sides paths tenuous and dangerous for normal usage.

Figure 7 The route to Mankot necessitates wading in the Gori river for some parts of the way

Medical AID for sick

Loss of road access and the danger along the existing paths has affected the sick and immobile the most. They are unable to get medical aid and the few Doctors in the region (at Jauljibi and Bungapani) are unable to visit the villages both because of lack of access and the heavy workload of having to cater to many villages.

People are unable to leave similarly because of very difficult paths and in some cases where they need to be carried out the paths are not wide enough.

Where the community is helping them selves

Sharing of food supplies – Some of the most vulnerable families in the affected area are being supported by their friends and families, who while themselves in need are sparing food supplies, clothing and sharing shelter as well.

Electricity – In the weeks following the flood the lower valley villages were without any electricity supply. All the lines and poles were damaged and in some cases had been washed away. Through community efforts the villages along the valley spent time to repair and redo the lines allowing for electricity supply to be restored.

Transportation of food supplies – Some vulnerable families of old people, single women and women headed households or others who are physically unable to travel far to get their share of relief supplies were helped out by their neighbors and friends.

Makeshift Shelters - In villages where homes have either not been affected but are in danger, here people have set up their own makeshift shelters, some are shared for lack of space while others have a bit more individual setups. See picture on page 1↓

Figure 8 Makeshift shelters in Mankot, where families leave their homes every night because of the risk posed by the Gori river which continues to be in spate.

Other Problems

Sharing of Information and relief-

While on one side there are people who are willing to work together to help everyone (and themselves) there are others who have been attempting to corner as much of the relief supply (and information ) as possible. The have been unwilling to share air dropped supplies or to share information of where relief is being provided. In some instances incorrect information lead to 600 people waiting at the road head for the relief which ultimately did not arrive leading to resentment and anger.

Criteria and priority in receiving aid -

Considering that the entire lower third of the valley has been cut off from the main supply route it has become difficult and contentious in deciding who gets what kind of aid. Most families are now vulnerable in terms of some of the basics – food, health and livelihoods. But the poorest are doubly vulnerable – not only are they flood affected but in many cases they now have less daily wage work to undertake.

There are a few people who are using this as an opportunity to garner as much as they can from what they see as free fund benefits. Another aspect is the general overstating of losses as well. Unfortunately this is clouding the relief delivery and making it difficult for aid to actually reach the most vulnerable. Aid supplies are at a premium in terms of the cost it takes to ensure it reaches relief location and therefore any diversion or misappropriation would directly affect the people who need it most.

Some other issues that were observed in this regard are :

Ration Cards: The standard ration card (Below Poverty Line, Antodaya, General etc ) criteria is difficult to use because many families have lost their entire landholdings and it would take a new survey for them to receive a new “poverty” categorization. Till then the ration card basis cannot be the sole basis of deciding eligibility for aid. Added to this is the fact that in many villages there are ration cards that are held for other families (or members) who do not stay in the village- this with the express purpose of claiming additional benefits. Therefore aid agencies must work harder and in conjunction with local representatives (elected or other wise) to ensure the the aid is received by those most needy.

Shelters – It is easy to identify families who have lost their homes. However, provisioning of shelters, t becomes more difficult to identify and select families who have abandoned (partially or totally) their homes because of increased vulnerability or fear. In all the discussion for shelters it is also easy to forget or ignore homestead animals which in many cases have been let loose to fend for themselves or in other cases continue to be stabled in homes that are on the verge of collapse. In either case animals which form a critical part of the subsistence and landuse strategies of mountain communities are quite vulnerable.

Land loss – in the last 2 decades that we have been working in the Gori valley, we have seen at-least 5 major flood incidents, each time causing loss of agricultural land along river sides. In some cases such land loss has been noted and the land records updated and in other cases this has been ignored. Further, during the current flood the river has changed many of the normal features along side rivers so it is difficult to estimate the true extent of the losses. During our surveys in some villages (and some families) it was difficult to estimate whether the land was lost during the current flood or at an earlier date. It would take fairly detailed GIS [G] [G] Geographical Information System and ground survey and analysis to pin point the loss from this flood. In the meantime, some families are using this as an opportunity to enhance their claims of actual losses.

Dependence on State and other Agencies-

The dependence on the state PDS (Public Distribution System ) and on other government and non government agencies was clearly visible among many of the people. At every instance the communities seemed to waiting for some one else to decide for them or to inform them about what should be done.

Unwillingness to move beyond payment based work – Years of major and minor intervention in monetizing most aspect of community life has resulted in a culture of unwillingness to work together to address common issues. Only in a few places had people got together to repair paths, lay small bridges, for fix up electricity line. However in most cases people were waiting for either a Government agency (like the BRO) to undertake the task or were waiting for information that they would be paid for any work; even repairs of their own access paths.

Food and Ration Supplies – The lower valley, endowed till recently with large, broad and fertile river side plateaus was traditionally known for its significantly productive agriculture. Over the last few decades there has been a steady loss of overall focus on agriculture and a simultaneous loss in productivity, these due to a host of reasons plaguing mountain agriculture. Further the cheap and relatively easy availability of food grain through various schemes under the PD System has resulted in many families having a smaller supply of food stocks, with a regular need to “buy” rations. This became apparent during the current flood situation where over and above the poorest, many other families found themselves severely short of food supplies with little available from their own farms and with no option to buy rations from any other source, despite having the cash to do so.

Road Building and road repairs

One observation, which needs further confirmation and analysis, was that some areas most affected by the flooding river were where the roads were built. One theory is that the blast and dump technique used by the road building agencies had weakened the slopes and resulted in compounded damage.

The BRO is continuing to use explosives and dumping of excavation down the mountainside to reopen the roads. In the short run it may meet the emergency but in the long run it will yet again prove counter productive.

Further along the valley – in almost every location the BRO has been building new bridges, over tributaries and small feeder streams of the Gori River on foundations that have been severely damaged.

The two images on page 1↓ and on page 1↓, taken from Mankot clearly indicate the existing structural damage to the slope caused while constructing the road in the first instance and the subsequent landslide triggered by the recent flood. Such evidence is visible across many section of the road.

The images also show a before-after depiction of the landscape. The before is when they had a functional rope-way trolley and the after is a post flood scenario – where not only from the left bank abutment been washed away but the slope is now too unstable to build a new one, necessitating the search for a new and more secure sight.

Figure 9 Mankot rope trolley (2008) - Note the structural damage to the opposite slope on the left. People in the village said that the landslide happened when road building was undertaken in the early 80’s

Figure 9 Mankot Rope trolley (2013) - After the flood; again note that the section that has given way is almost co-terminus with the road building induced damage. The abutment on the opposite side has caved in and has been swept away.

Ration availability as on 15th July 2013

During the period of our visit we heard and saw many helicopters ferrying rations and BRO road building equipment. At almost every PDS location ration was being dropped for all the villages supplied by that particular PDS shop. As as of the middle of July almost every village had been supplied one month’s worth of dry rations (rice, wheat and cooking oil). The hope and the plan is that by the middle of August roads would have been sufficiently opened up to allow transportation of additional rations to the various PDS centres.

Details of relief support and some issues

Details of relief received by some of the communities is mentioned below. This is not a definitive or complete list and is based on information provided by the community themselves or sourced from the Government offices

Agencies that have provided some form of aid to the disaster affected communities are listed in this table on page 1↓. However this information is generic - different villages depending on their existing access and their vulnerability received different amounts of aid even from the same agencies.

Some of the issues concerning relief are :

Many agencies are arriving at road head locations (Madkot, Toli) with no prior information or intimation – in this case the aid is provided to whoever is at the road head with very little verification of actual need. In cases where prior information and intimation was provided, the aid supply agencies were unable to cope with the political and crowd pressure and had to simply hand out the relief arbitrarily and the to more politically vocal.

Political agencies are being selective in who to provide rations to – they are attempting to only cater to their party members and followers.

Ration Supply – In many cases the ration and aid being supplied is too little and inconsistent. Families after walking many hours to receive the aid are returning with a few kgs of rations (adequate for just a day or two) Some food packages have included snacks like maggi instant noodles and cups of precooked khicdhi (lentil-rice), bread etc which has often has reached in inedible condition. Subsequently the state Government has issued orders that only dry and non cooked rations are to be supplied in food relief.

Agencies from outside the region are arriving without an understanding of the specific ground reality and are finding their preparations insufficient and inadequate. One of their mistaken assumptions is that families have nothing left or will be desperate enough to make do with haphazardly collected and / or poor quality aid, resulting in their relief supplies being significantly at variance from what is required or what is useful.

Himal Prakriti would be putting out specific information for some of the affected villages and will continue to provide updates of the post flood status, relief and rehabilitation situation in the valley.

Walk from Toli to Madkot

After distribution of the rations at the Toli road head a small team of people from Himal Prakriti and Maati walked with some of the affected families back to their villages. Following is a description of the route and the conditions:

13th July 2013 :

Toli to Chami (12 km) - Immediately after Toli the motor road has been destroyed. People have to take a small detour of about 1 km via Toli village to the other side. From there jeeps are available till Chami Bridge, 10 kilometers away. At Ghata bagad1 (2 km from Toli) the road has also been destroyed but a new road has been created via some fields. All along this route are places where the road and small bridges have been affected but are being kept open for small vehicles. Just short of Chami is a stop for people to cross the suspension bridge at Hudki. This bridge is the access route to Gharudi and Mankot villages.

Figure 10 The new landslide at Toli, which is the current road head location

Figure 11 Carrying supplies across an active landslide & a boulder filled path along the river near Mori

Chami to Bagicha Bagad (1. Km) - Just a few hundred meters after Chami is a bridge over a small stream, after the bridge (linking Bagicha bagad) a 100 meter section of the path as been brought down by the river. People traveling further up have to get off the jeeps here and walk to rest of the distance. They have to descend a steep slope of loose boulders and sand and then walk along the river for half a kilometer. The road emerges at Bagicha bagad (Lumti). Work with earth movers and labourers is underway to reconstruct the road because of which there is constant rockfall Downslope along the rock and boulder filled river side people have to run to avoid the falling rocks. This path is extremely dangerous because of both the road reconstruction and the natural rock fall.

Bagicha Bagad to Mori (3 km ) – At first the walk is along the motor road till a kilometer before Mori. Here one has to descend to the river and walk for a kilometer along the river, sometimes right at the water’s edge and sometimes higher up. The entire path is along the unstable river side’s boulder ridden slopes. This path becomes especially dangerous in rain because the slopes are very loose, steep and unstable.

Mori to Bungapani ( 6 km) – After Mori till opposite Mankot the path is again along the existing motor road. Opposite Mankot there are a few 100 metres of the road has been brought down by the river. The path climbs up the new landslide and descends along a muddy rockface back to the motor road. Then till Choribagad one must follow the motor road which in many sections has caved in but is walkable.

Figure 12 Lumti Village - Abandoned shops and homes, the habitation that existed on the right side of the road has been totally destroyed in the floods

At Choribagad significant sections of the road have disappeared while some of the remaining sections are walkable. At other places the detours are via agricultural fields on the remaining riverside plateau.

Figure 13 The path lies on the newly formed unstable landslide near Mori

Figure 14 Descending from one of the many landslides - this one opposite Mankot

From Bungapani to Khinwagaon & Umargada ( 1 Km) – Just after Bungapani a section of the motor road has collapsed. Here one takes a detour to Khiwagaon village via an old infrequently used path, which has not been maintained for many years and is in significant disrepair. It also entails wading across a steep and fast flowing stream, where recently a person fell and got seriously injured, was heli-evaced out but later died in hospital . A temporary path was made on the landslide but is still quite dangerous.

14th July 2013 :

Survey work in Umargada, Shilling,

15th July 2013 :

Survey work in Mankot, Gharudi and Dawani

16th July 2013 :

Khinwagaon to Umargada (1 km)

After Khinwagaon a few sections of the motor road have caved in and are barely walkable and soon after is a extremely dangerous temporary path made by the Border Roads Organization (BRO). The path has no protection and is on smooth rock and slippery clayey mud. The BRO have fixed metal ropes on the lower side (the falling side) instead of on the upper side, and these ropes are totally useless for any except when they have already fallen and even then will be of no help. There is a longer and safer detour which takes about 2 hours and involves a steep climb and an equally steep descent through Chir pine forests and grassy slopes with no established path except what has been created by people walking and some old animal trails.

Figure 15 A destroyed road and bridge between Bungapani and Umargada

Umargada to Seraghat – via Shilling and Sera villages (5 km)

Soon after crossing the Jauli gad (between Umargada and Shilling) is the Ghingrani landslide. This is an old and perpetual landslide originating from the river to a few hundred feet up and is quite long, about 300 meters. Over the last few years this landslide had stabilized and in the monsoons was kept open by the BRO. However the floods have one again destabilized the landslide which has now become longer, steeper and very unstable. Earlier in the middle of the landslide was an unaffected section – this has now become part of the landslide as well. Also just a bit after Ghingrani a new landslide has got formed. This entire section is not negotiable and one has to take a footpath that climbs up much higher to the main Shilling village and then a descent to Sera Village. The distance of normal motorable road from Shilling to Sera is about 3 kilometers however the diverted footpath route is close to 5 kilometers involving a longish climb and descent.

Figure 16 temporary and dangerous path between Khinwagaon and Umargada

Figure 17 Ghingrani Landslide near Shilling, with little evidence that there was a road here before

Sera to Seraghat (1.5 Km) - From here we follow the main motorable road till Sera Ghat. This section of the road is not only on a higher plateau but also much further in from the Gori river and has not been affected much.

The distance between Seraghat and Madkot along the normal motorable road is only 7 kilometers. This entire section continues along the true left bank of the river. The floods have damaged and washed away many sections and have also caused some new tall landslides. The river itself is flowing on the true left side making it impossible to negotiate or even undertake road reconnection work. For a few weeks in between there was an interim footpath from opposite Alam bagad (Alam trolley point) which climbed up a some distance to Bata, descended to Phaguwa bagad and then involved another shorter climb to the base of Umdanda and then descended to Devi Bagar. However on the night of 15th July 2013 a new landslide formed along this path and made it not just unusable but also dangerous.

Figure 18 View of the Paina River, a tributary of the Gori. Visible are – Centre Left - the destroyed barrage of the 5 MW Motighat Hydro Project, Right – Washed away farms and precarious homes of Lodi Bagad hamlet and Left Dani Bagad Hamlet

The alternate route is now via Tanga, Bata, Umdanda, as distance of about 8 kilometers.

We walked along the true right bank of the Paina river, a tributary of the Gori, originating from the Panchachuli peak complex till the turn off to Tanga.From here the first section is a long series of very steep concrete steps along a very wet and dripping path. Then the path meanders through fields to lower Tanga, from there it continues on to their highest Hamlet and then onto Monyal Pani

From Monyal Pani we climb up to the ridge – here there are two paths the lower one rejoins the Seraghat Madkot path, while the safer and easier one is to follow the ridge path further upto the Bata / Nirtoli Ridge. From here there is a established wide cattle path down to Bata.

The cattle path merges into Bata’s village trail and past the village it rejoins a well made stone path that continues to Umdanda, some sections are cliffy and in one place one has to negotiate a shallow but wide stream with no bridge.

From Umdanda the route is along a well made wide path that also passes some steep cliff sections, it then escends into a gorge and quickly emerges on a gentle descent to Devi bagad. From Devi Bagad the path is now along the existing motor road to Madkot. Some jeeps are plying between Devi bagad and Madkot.

Madkot – Bhadeli (2 km) – The motorable normally route runs through Madkot bazaar but jeeps now plying to Bhadeli cannot negotiate a turn into the main bazaar because the Gori has caused a huge landslide in the lower bazaar area, which is sitting rather unstably on the the very edge of the landslide. The rest of the routes remains the same as earlier. Between Madkot and Bhadeli itself there are quite a few minor and some major landslides, The BRO has made these operational. However, at Bhadeli the story is quite different. The river continues to flow to the true right and is steadily cutting into what remains of the Bhadeli bagad.

Path along Motor road – in many places some sections of the the motor road is intact – while interspersed are smaller sections where the road has caved in and is not motorable until some minor to major road repair work is undertaken.

Bhadeli – Munsiari (20 km) – After the Bhadeli bridge there is short walk to the lowest of the bends to avoiding the road section between Kainthi bend and Bhadeli. This is because an existing landslide originating from the Gori river is expanding and more area has now become unstable. From here is about a 18 km jeep ride to Munsiari. There are a few streams on route where the bridges have been damaged and new bridge foundations have been severely compromised. However, for the major part the route is functional.

Figure 19 What remains of the motor road at Phaguwa Bagad, between Madkot and Seraghat